ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is waiting to receive answers from the United States before making a decision on contributing troops to the International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza, said Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi on Thursday.

Last month, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said Pakistan was willing to contribute to the international peacekeeping force in Gaza, though it would not deploy troops to disarm or de-weaponize Hamas.

According to international media outlets, Washington views Pakistan as a potentially significant contributor to the force given its battle-hardened military.

However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio conceded last month that countries contributing troops want to know what the ISF’s specific mandate would be and how it would be funded, noting that Pakistan was among the countries who had shown interest.

“As regard to the International Stabilization Force [in Gaza], as I said, in a number of my replies, that, and in fact, what the deputy prime minister also said here, that that it depends on the mandate, and in regards to the balance of that force,” Andrabi said.

Referring to Rubio’s statement on countries asking questions on ISF, the spokesman said “we still wait for answers with respect to those questions.”

The spokesperson also highlighted Dar’s telephone conversations with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan twice this week.

“The deputy prime minister welcomed the Saudi foreign ministry’s statement regarding Yemen and appreciated the efforts of all sides to resolve the regional situation amicably,” he continued.

To a question regarding a Reuters report that claimed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were in talks to convert about $2 billion of Saudi loans into a JF-17 fighter jet deal, Andrabi said both countries have “robust defense cooperation,” though he added he was unaware of the particular deal.

“I am not aware of any particular deal, regarding any platform or any systems and its financial adjustment. But this is a development that we would confirm upon materialization,” Andrabi said.

To another question about the possibility of Pakistan sending fresh troops to Saudi Arabia to join a Saudi military operation in Yemen, the spokesman said: “I have no information on this. We have, as I said, robust defense cooperation, many of these projects remain in the pipeline, but as regards the number of troops or an added number of troops, I do not have any information.”